Sakura Spy School
by Eddiee Beth
Summary: Spy Story AU: Sakura is raised under Tsunade's care, who just happens to be the Head of a secret spy organization known as Konoha. She only wanted to prove that she can take on a mission and become a secret agent. She just didn't expect it to cost her heart and everything she believed to be true. Oh and then there was the pervert, Kakashi, she was stuck with for a partner.
1. IOU

"You're retired."

Tsunade wore a mocking grin. It was shameless how she didn't even try to cover that smile of her.

"I am," Kakashi commented, trying his best to not show how much her reaction bothered him.

"Why now?" She asked, drawing out her infamous glass bottles from the back of her desk. "I'm actually quite surprised you lasted this long."

"You're shameless," he burst, tired of holding up the charade.

"Well," she merely chuckled, the sake appearing out of nowhere and Kakashi couldn't remember if this was a good sign or not, "I haven't outright said I told you so."

"You just did," Kakashi scoffed, not even bothering to hide the roll of his eyes.

When he heard her hum and take a sip of her poured out alcohol, Kakashi sighed accepting the other cup laid out on the table for him. This would help him, because, after all these years working for her, Kakashi knew that she wouldn't budge until he came out with the truth.

Or half-truth. He was always good at those.

"You're right. You did tell me that I was going to get tired of retirement," he admitted rather bitterly. "You're right when you said that I would get bored of reading Icha Icha paradise."

"Was I?" Tsunade rhetorically asked but brushed it off with a chuckle as she motioned for him to keep going with his monologue. He just gave a pointed look before continuing.

"I want my old job back," Kakashi said tired of beating around the bush, he didn't have time for this. "And since we're being honest, you need me."

That had Tsunade bellowing over from laughter and he smiled along with her. He knew that would work.

"Still as prideful as ever." She said, refilling her drink while shaking her head 'no'.

"I learned from the best." He commented hoping to get in her good graces, as he watched her take a long gulp from her drink. If this was to work, he would need her to be a happy drunk.

"I also haven't lost my touch," Kakashi added a little too hastily, and as he watched her sharp eyes shift from her drink onto him, he knew she had caught the worry in his voice. "If that's what you're concerned about."

He was screwed, the oldest mistake in the book and he had fallen for it. He had shown too much desperation; he didn't play his card with any confidence. Damn it, he screwed it all up. His one chance to get back onto the field…some ex-agent he was.

"No one had ever come back from retirement," Tsunade said, watching him like a hawk. She wanted to see how far she could push him and how he would crack. "Unless, of course, they're personally asked for when an emergency occurs. I would be breaking so many rules if I were to assign you a mission."

Kakashi was about to protest. To say some stupid excuse, but she didn't let him get a word in.

"We made it clear that I was done breaking the rules for you when you decided you wanted to leave all this behind." Tsunade said, the seriousness in her voice growing with every word, "Time after time I bent the rules for you. I shouldn't have let you receive missions early before you were of age or when I begrudgingly let you join the classified Anbu section, but I did it because I knew you were more than capable.

"And that day you asked to walk out of all this, I let you without questioning it." Tsunade was not on her feet, both of her hands planted on the desk to keep herself from hurling her cup at his head. It was her favorite drinking glass, after all, she wouldn't break it just because she wanted to dent his pretty little head to make sure he understood everything she was saying.

"I vowed to never break the rules for anyone ever again after that little stunt," she said, her mind flashing to a certain pink-haired girl who was no exception. Tsunade had kept her promise well.

Kakashi stayed quiet. He pretended to contemplate every word, pretending to let it sink in. Luckily, some kind of god was helping him, because he had practiced the perfect thing to say if she ever brought this argument up.

"Why in the world would you ever think I would take you back now?" She asked the one question he was hoping she would. Despite, the dreading sensation on what he was about to say next.

"Because you need someone to train her," Kakashi said, catching Tsunade off guard.

"What makes you think she isn't on the field yet?" Tsunade asked, her brows furrowing.

"I know for a fact that you haven't let her go on the field," he slyly replied, "because you don't trust them to take care of her. Not like how you've always trusted me. You may not need me anymore, but Sakura needs me."

"You're willing to train her," Tsunade repeated in disbelief.

"Yes," Kakashi said, meeting her questioning eyes. He made sure she saw how sure he was of himself. How confident he made himself out to be, despite the scared feeling in the pit of his chest.

"If you do this Kakashi…" Tsunade sat back down, her hands intertwined in front of her as she thought this out. "You'll owe me big time."

"Isn't training Sakura enough?" Kakashi asked, wide-eyed. He had not planned this far ahead, and her sudden behavior had caught him off guard.

Honestly, he was still shocked that he had waned the great Slug Princess down.

"Oh no," Tsunade chuckled evilly, "You're not getting off the hook this easily. You volunteered to teach her, that's just your punishment for leaving me to deal with her alone."

"I didn't-" Kakashi began, ready to pull up his excuses before she stopped him from babbling like an insecure kid.

"You can convince yourself," Tsunade said dismissing him from her office as she poured herself another helping of her sake, "but the truth cannot be hidden, no matter how well."

Kakashi knew there were no truer words than that. He would just never admit it out loud; especially not after he had just won his spot back and dug his own grave on the same day.


	2. Origins

Sakura rubbed her burning eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. The screen blared with blue light, her mouse hovering over another half-finished report, but she couldn't concentrate on that any longer.

The light had been replaced with swirls of darkness the harder she rubbed her eyes until she effectively put out any color from view. She wasn't in the office anymore, and with an exasperated sigh, she remained frozen with her eyes closed cherishing the temporary escape.

There was no one around her anymore, the edge of her oncoming headache completely disappeared. She was finally all alone with just her thoughts and it felt blissful.

If she just relaxed more, enough to focus her energy on getting away, she could see the ocean. Her mouth felt salty, the breeze sanding her cheeks and she could hear voices. Her hands were smaller here. Her head, especially her forehead, was probably too big but she had been happy here. This had been her happy place once upon a time.

Unfortunately, fairy tales didn't come true for Sakura. There was sorrow in this memory, but it was the only memory she could remember of her parents.

Despite all three of them being on vacation on the beach, it had been a gloomy day. Her parents, ever the optimists and workaholics had promised to spend some time together and the Harunos wasn't going to let a little rain ruin their day.

Sakura recalled her father playfully pulling her mother into the freezing water, their laughter echoing all around together. She was also pulled into the water for a family hug, getting her hair wet in the process, but she didn't care as she watched her dad tenderly kiss her mother. There was true love and passion in that one kiss and just for a second, the world stopped to grant them this moment.

Then the rain started, and they all ran giggling out of the water as they hear thunder. It had been a memorable day, one that ended with them lodging in a hotel near the shore. Coffee in each of their hands, chocolate for her, as they reminisced about their adventures.

But she learned the hard way that nothing could ever be perfect as everything went downhill from there.

The hotel they stayed at had been attacked. The police report she had found years later claimed that it had been a robbery gone wrong with her parents, the only family she knew, caught in the crossfire. They had lost their lives along with the attendants and everyone else who had the misfortune of staying in that place that night.

Everyone except her.

She had been the only survivor. Her father had hidden her in the cupboard and ordered her to be quiet and not come out no matter what she heard. Her hands had twitched, she had fought with herself to stay put choosing to listen to her dad instead of the little voice in her head.

A lot had changed for her that day besides becoming an orphan. Her inner voice had been replaced with the sound of the gunshots that still rang in her head till this day. And the police report had been vetoed for the truth; her parents had been targeted that night.

"Aren't you squinting a little too hard over there?" Ino barely managed to say between chuckles until she couldn't hold it in anymore and bellowed in laughter, one hand clutched over her abdomen.

Sakura opened her eyes with a roll before flinging a pen at the blonde's head who continued to laugh her heart out.

"Oh stop, you're overreacting," Sakura huffed, propping her head on her open palm in boredom. "Aren't you sick of all this office work Ino?"

That made Ino stop dead in her tracks and seriously stare at her best friend.

"We should've been promoted years ago," Sakura replied her head sliding to hit the desk with a loud thud, "Instead we're stuck here doing office work!"

Ino scowled, her hand thumping on the desk to effectively capture Sakura's attention and break her from her depressingly moody state she was moping in.

"You think I don't know that?" Ino replied a frown covering her own face. "Do you know how many times I didn't stop to think that I could be catching bad guys out on the field like a real operative such as my dad? But at least I'm not whining about it like a baby."

"I know what you're doing," Sakura chided back with an accusing finger. "You're trying to knock some sense into me, but I'm just so tired of waiting. Tsunade herself trained us and here we are, washing away with the knowledge we know."

"Actually, she trained you. I just sat there watching," Ino mumbled in the background typing away on her computer as Sakura continued droning on.

"I learned how to rip out a heart without making a bloody mess when I was eight for crying out loud!" Sakura said unaware that her listening buddy had begun to drown out considering she had already ranted this same speech to her for the past two months.

"That's because you specialized in medicine," Ino replied as if she heard this sentence every other day – which thanks to Sakura, she had. "If you had specialized in psych then it would be torture methods you'd be screaming in my ear right now."

"We are more than ready to become filed operatives." Sakura continued rambling, "Even Naruto is already on the field. I don't see why we're stuck finishing their reports."

Ino sighed, giving up on work for today by pushing her hair out of her face and slumped into her chair. Her hand began to mimic Sakura's every word coming from her mouth.

"Anything is better than working back office. I never imagined I would be sitting at my desk filling out forms for the past two years. I practically know every mission statement by heart and every question asked like the back of my hand. Even some of my agent's answers are so similar I can always guess what they put down next."

Ino shook her head, "Everyone starts from the bottom, until Tsunade thinks we're ready."

"Which we are! Everyone else our age had already been cleared to go on missions," Sakura countered plastering her head back into her hands with a frustrated sigh. "I'd rather be training than sitting here ruining my eyesight."

"We're already trained. That's why we're here on standby Sakura." Ino replied placing a comforting hand on her friend's desk, "You know that. I know that."

Sakura screamed into her hands, creating a muffled noise and stared at her best friend in defeat.

"We're not like everyone else our age. We grew up in the system, birthed with the skill set not attainable to others. Plus, as much as I hate to admit it, we're sitting all nice and pretty in the air conditioning because those in charge care a little too much about us. We're not expendable." Ino continued as she stood on her feet and walked over to Sakura's desk. She placed both her hands on the back of Sakura's chair and twirled her around, caging her in so she could listen to what Ino had to say.

"Even Naruto is an exception for finding a mentor in the field program wiling to train him personally and get Tsunade to agree to let him go on his first mission. You know the details. If he failed, he would've never been allowed to ever go on any missions ever again. That's how much Tsunade was against the idea but he had a mentor whom she owed a favor to. We don't. We have to wait until she gives us the clearance to proceed up the ladder."

"Dammit, Ino, I hate when you're right," Sakura grumbled out. Here she was stuck submitting documents of missions she was prohibited to participate in onto the encrypted database, famously known for its un-hackable reputation, of Konoha Firewall. A stupid, stupid website that was only accessible by the top tier of agent leaders.

This was probably as exciting as her life was going to get. Privileged enough to access a highly secure database their fellow enemies killed themselves for and yet unable to wiggle herself into getting a mission.

Ino had a point though. Ino's father was the lead torture specialist; he knew how to manipulate a manipulator and make him do his bidding. Being an only child and her father's little princess, had its cons for the blonde girl. Her dad was not going to let any harm – or boys – come to his baby girl even if she was already 23 years old.

Worst of all, Sakura had Tsunade as a legal guardian.

After her parent's death, she had learned all kinds of things. First, her parents were undercover spies working under the busty blonde spy famous known across the black grid as code name Slug. Or Slug Princess when she was younger.

Tsunade was the worst parent anyone could ever ask for. She was too overprotecting, too temperamental and almost never sober. She had taught Sakura self-defense and when she had mastered every technique with flying colors, Tsunade had taught her more and more until Sakura knew everything there was to know.

Tsunade had been so impressed that she had considered taking Sakura on missions. Stories of capers, hunting down bad guys, restoring robbed paintings and pieces of history filled her young mind back then.

She had been a little less than thirteen back then, but the next second, her mentor relented. She had looked at Sakura a little too closely and shook her head with tears in her eyes.

The storytelling had stopped after that.

Sakura knew Tsunade felt guilty for her parent's deaths. That was why the blonde had taken her in when she was found shaking the earth at the scene of the crime that night.

They had formed a bond of trust and security that night. Tsunade loved her like her own daughter which was why she wasn't allowed to volunteer herself at the age of eighteen to officially join recruitment.

This was also why Sakura herself had not pushed the matter; but she wanted to prove to the old woman that she was better than any rookie training to become a spy. She wasn't going to get herself killed; she just wanted to make everyone proud.

"You're squinting again," Ino commented breaking Sakura from her thoughts and bringing her back into reality. "You're thinking about that night, aren't you?"

Sakura's face soured. Ino just had to bring that memory back to the surface. Her mind had been far away from that night, carefully locking it deep down into the recess of her head but now that it was mentioned there was no clemency in trying to push it back down.

"No, I actually wasn't." Sakura offhandedly commented, wanting to scurry from the subject as far as she could. She needed to distract herself and quickly before her mind wandered down memory lane once again.

"Aw, crap," Ino apologized, her eyes wide at realizing her mistake. "It's just, I can't read you anymore like when we were younger Sakura. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up."

"It's fine," Sakura lied knowing it wasn't; it had been four weeks and one hell of a battle with herself since she had thought back to those events long ago. One glance at the clock and Sakura thanked the heavens for an escape, "It's lunchtime. Let's go, yeah?"

"I feel like getting something sweet," Ino nodded, diving over Sakura's desk to reach her purse in a flash, desperate to change the topic herself and get back into a more cheerful mood.

"I do hope you're talking about dessert," Sakura commented with Ino hot on her heels flashing a tell-tale grin.


	3. Flashback to You

Sakura twisted and turned. Her sheets felt like they were suffocating her, sweat collected behind her neck and she rubbed it off with a grunt. It was hopeless.

Her bright green eyes revealing to the world that she was still wide awake instead of sleeping. Although dreams were the last thing on her mind. Not that she minded, she could sense that nightmares were what waited for her tonight.

Instead, Sakura pushed the covers off her, letting it land with a thud on the floor. She curled herself into a ball around her pillow starring off into what she wished had been a sky full of stars but was instead met with a hollow grey paint job. She grabbed the blade hidden from under her pillow and held it tight to her chest.

"I want to forget," Sakura proclaimed, hoping someone – anyone was listening to her cry of help. "I've already forgotten everything else…please, dear kami, help me feel better."

A tear trickled, momentarily blinding her vision and swirling her view into fields of blues and greys. She felt transported back to that night; the one right after her parent's murders. The night that felt like a dream as if she had been stuck in limbo from having just lost her family to being saved by a new one.

In a moment of weakness, she had peeked through the cabinet she had been stuffed into.

She had seen her parents fall to the floor, a knife from her father's hand-rolled towards her and Sakura had reached out to grab it, but someone had grabbed her wrists and stopped her. She had been caught.

Sakura's bottom lip trembled but not even a squeal came out when she attempted to scream. She had been so scared that her voice had fled her; she didn't have the guts to speak because she knew she was next.

Eyeing her parent's body on the floor, a part of her was ready to join her family into the afterlife. But a voice inside of her shook violently knowing she needed to live for her parent's sake. Their deaths would not be in vain.

Just like that, she had a reason to fight. A determination to make it through this night and the next ones.

What she didn't expect was for this said someone to hand her the dagger and stuff her tiny hand back into the safety of her little coven. She almost wished she had peeked up to see her murdering savior. To this day she still didn't know whether she wanted to kill him or thank him for sparing her life.

She had stayed in the cabinet for the rest of the night, too scared to venture out as screams continued letting Sakura figure out that there was more than just one killer; it had been a whole group.

She had proved her theory true when she counted their footsteps she had come to a total of nine assassins moving about the now quiet motel. Sakura had been quieter than a mouse, too afraid to fall asleep as the night had turned into two.

She had heard them exit at what she assumed had been dawn. She couldn't really tell from where she sat cramped in her little space. It also didn't help that the courage she had found hours prior to the fight had evaded her and she didn't dare come out wondering if someone was waiting for her outside.

Somehow, she had managed to lose consciousness and she wondered if it had been because she lacked nutrition or energy. Maybe both.

And then standing before her had been a boy. Possibly just a little older than her, but a boy like herself nonetheless. The child she had once been wondered what he was doing there at the motel where her parents' bodies were now nowhere to be found. She wondered if the killers had burned them.

Another thought also occurred in her, wondering if he had been hiding like her too. If he had also lost his parents. He had fueled her with the curiosity to talk again. To ask why he wasn't affected at all by the blood splatters all over the floor and the knife shaking from the tremble in her hand.

"Y-you're not s-scared?" Sakura asked, her puppy green eyes wide and she was sure she looked like she'd gone through hell with her hair plastered all over on one side. She had been amazed at the boy hovering over her.

His own face covered in shock, but he wiped his emotions away in the blink of an eye. She couldn't quite remember the exact specifics of his face; there had been something obscure about it preventing her from recalling the memory in exact detail. All she could remember was his eyes. She had never seen such vibrant eyes that were the opposite of her own.

While hers reflected light, he seemed to absorb it in swirls of red and black. There was so much raw emotion a girl at her age had yet to understand. Traces of love and pain filled his eyes to the brim and Sakura couldn't peel herself away, no, she instead got closer to him. It was captivating to watch.

"Teach me how to not be scared," Sakura barely whispered among her trance.

"I repeat, do you copy?" A small voice coming from the boy's ear broke Sakura from completely leaning in and she backed away instead.

Then the boy had run. He had run far, far away from her.

She had called him back, called him to not leave her behind. To take her with him but he continued running. The feeling of loneliness had settled in her after that and she realized just how alone she truly was.

A few hours later, it was nightfall once more and Tsunade had found her in the stuffed in the cupboard right where she had been left. Little Sakura felt it was the safest place to stay in and she didn't have the guts to walk away from the place where her parents were stolen from her. Tsunade had seen herself in the girl's eyes, something so like her own and Sakura recognized it too.

Those three nights would never escape Sakura as she shifted on her bed once more; the night of hell, purgatory, and heaven as she liked to morbidly joke.


	4. The One With the Eyes

Sakura hummed, typing away on the computer on her desk. The day had started seemingly normal like the past few days she had been assigned to work on mission reports, expect she was almost done early and before lunch no less.

She couldn't wait to get home and pop a movie in her DVD player. She could practically hear a rom-com calling her to the plasma screen in her living room.

With that motivation in mind, Sakura continued to furiously type away liking her lips as she focused a hundred percent on her work. Not even Ino could distract her now.

Speaking of the blonde, Sakura paused to look around the office briefly wondering where the hell she was anyways. She hadn't seen the girl since she dropped her purse in the little cubicle and ran off claiming she had to go to the restroom.

Shaking her head, Sakura cracked her knuckles and with a shrug, she continued her mindless typing. Just one more paragraph and then to file is in its correct destination before she could call it a day-

"Forehead!" Ino shouted sneaking up on the pinkette who had accidentally thrown a very sharp pen at her which the blonde dodged. Sakura still wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not sometimes she did wish she had hit her target instead of the thin wall.

"What is it pig?" Sakura said retrieving the pen with a hard tug until it came loose. "I was almost done."

"You have to come see this!" Ino gave a girly shout and then a giggle escaped her mouth. Sakura really wished she hadn't missed when the noise scraped her ears.

"What are you droning on about Ino?" Sakura asked plopping back down into her seat before being pulled back up by the energetic blonde. "I'm actually doing work today and here you go-"

"Shut up and listen!" Ino said slapping the side of her friend's head, "You stubborn…"

Sakura had stopped hearing her now angered friend as she watched the male strut forwards through the glass doors that lead from their humble little offices. She knew whoever he was, he was handsome. His hair jet black, tall and from where she stood she could fairly make out his pale luminous skin.

He was getting a tour of the department, the usual walkthrough before being led back to headquarters. However, no matter how many times she had seen it occur within sponsors and all the higher-ups, she felt bewitched, unable to tear her eyes away this time. Away from him.

It was almost as if her mind was trying to recognize his face, but Sakura felt confusion at how uninterested he seemed.

It irked her on some level how little emotion he seemed to radiate. She could tell his devoid attitude apart thanks to his non-verbal shrugs, noticing when his back arched as he hummed or grunted at whatever his tour guide said. There was something odd about it.

"That's him!" Ino commented breaking Sakura from her trance. "He's the reason why the office had been so quiet this morning. I heard someone mention a new agent hanging around the lobby and when I went to investigate, guess where I found all the girls from our department crowded?"

"New agent?" Sakura asked, her curiosity suddenly replaced with fury as she wondered why they had outsourced an agent, it was rare for Tsunade to even consider it. Why hadn't she been asked instead? She'd been waiting forever to move up the ladder and here they go bringing someone new in! What the hell made him so special?

"His name's Sasuke Uchiha," Ino explained, "apparently, everyone in his family is businessmen. Really, really wealthy businessmen with stocks in the agency; they've funded our department for decades."

"Pretty boy thinks he could buy his way into the system, huh? Well, let's see just how trained he is," Sakura scoffed dislodging the pen from the wall with one hard yank and held it like a dart towards this very handsome man who probably didn't deserve to take on the role of a spy.

"What?" Ino asked confused before realization dawned on her face as she jumped to hold her best friend down from doing anything stupid, "Wait, no! Sakura, no!"

Right when Sakura was ready to fling the pen, aiming straight for his beautiful behind, he had turned around. Sakura let go of the pen, letting it fall to the floor as a gasp from her shock escaped her.

She knew those eyes. They were the ones she could never forget; the ones that still haunted her to this day. He was the boy who had ran away from her and he had the nerve to roam his eyes over her before looking away just as uninterested as he had been that day at the hotel too.

Sakura's brow twitched, the anger returning to her in a full-blown force.

She quickly grabbed another pen from her desk and hurled it straight at his heart. She then screamed when he dodged it in a quick motion before waving at her with an infuriating smirk. Ino had to hold her back from chasing down the man Sakura wished she had not known about and Ino wished had never shown.

"What's gotten into you Sakura?!" Ino angrily asked, pulling Sakura out of sight from the Uchiha. For some reason, she had gone mental at the sight of him – and not in a good way.

They were supposed to fawn over his good looks.

"It's him!" Sakura screamed, grunting before her anger evaporated and suddenly there were tears in her red eyes.

Ino only watched in horror as the ever head-strong woman broke down and balled up into a ball on the floor.

"It's him," Sakura continued in-between sobs. "He's the one who found me the night my parents were murdered."

"You said they died in an accident," Ino asked confused, but trying her hardest to be supportive for her best friend as she sat next to Sakura on the floor and placed a comforting hand around her shaking form. "You never mentioned a boy, Sakura."

"It was a freak accident of sorts," Sakura confessed, her eyes shifting from the floor to the ceiling. Her mind was everywhere. She needed to get a grip and pull herself together because she was not weak.

Meanwhile, Ino knew from experience that it would be good for the girl to talk it out. People usually felt better after letting their emotions out into words. So, the blonde patiently waited in silence as her friend found the right words.

"The night before Tsuande found me, there was a boy," Sakura whispered, her voice becoming louder with every word, "A boy who found me, and when I asked for help, he ran far away from me. It had made me feel like shit for such a long time and now here he is again to ruin my life."

"How can you know for sure that it's him?" Ino asked, for the first time ever hearing about the boy. They had been friends for so long and the blonde always knew there was something else bothering the pink-haired girl. She just never imagined that it would be over a boy.

Sakura hesitated and the curiosity in Ino rose.

"Are you sure?" Ino asked, trying her best to not shatter Sakura's regained courage and put her back into that insecure bubble, "Maybe it's not him."

"Yes," Sakura said, certainty in her voice. "I've never been able to remember any distinguishing feature except his eyes. I know those eyes, Ino. There's nothing like it."

Ino merely watched the girl hug herself and her mind drifted back to Sasuke's eyes. He bore one red eye. It was an unmistakable mismatched pair of onyx and red orbs and Ino knew she had to believe Sakura.

No one had eyes like that. They weren't common shades like blues and browns. These were rare shades of the soul's genes.

Just like Sakura's unmistakable pink hair.

These were people you didn't forget in life.


	5. Illegal Fight Club

Sakura knew it wasn't dignified for a lady, but heck, nothing she had learned during her training with Tsunade was proper.

Tracking, manipulating, scheming, and killing was far from the spectrum of 'lady-like' behavior.

And when she was out in the street, she could always blame it on the fact that her guardian was a drunk. That excuse always worked when she had been younger, but she could never get used to those pitying looks the authorities would give her afterward.

With a shrug, Sakura brushed off her escaping thoughts as she continued tying up her vintage, leather boots before the bell rang out across the dark stadium.

This was natural for her. She was bred for this.

Scratch that, she was _born_ for this. Both of her parents were trained fighters after all and she may have grown in this type of environment, but she'd be damn ignorant if she didn't admit that it ran in her blood.

She ducked the flying fist quick. That would have left a mighty mark.

On instinct, Sakura swung and then repeated the motion with a few jabs. It helped with the frustration bubbling in her and every step came naturally to her.

Two steps forward, one duck, on side step and another backward as she continued to throw her fists in the direction of her opponent. Oh, but when she plummeted the other girl, that's when her true colors shined through.

One right hook and another jab and she knew she had won another round. Funny how the other girl didn't even last fifteen minutes.

The crowd made up of shady gamblers and cigarette reeking punks cheered as her hands rose in the air in victory. Ino merely rolled her eyes.

Sakura, however, reveled in the hoots thrown her way until she caught the blaring red and blue lights that could only mean one thing.

They were here. Shit. How did they even find out?

Quickly, Sakura scrambled to pick up her backpack, looking for the bobbling blondie flirting with a man who had too many muscles for it to not be steroids.

Without wasting another second, Sakura squeezed Ino's arm.

"We need to go!" Sakura urged and thank the heavens, Ino got the message a few seconds before everyone else erupted in chaos. They were in deep trouble if they were caught in the underground ring again.

"Crap! Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Ino whined pulling off her stilettoes and making a run for it while the crowd also buzzed, pushing one another to the exit.

"I didn't see them Ino!" Sakura shouted, holding the blonde's hand in her own as they made a run for it to the back where the lockers were. "How was I supposed to know?"

"My dad's going to kill me for sure," Ino said, "I've been caught one too many times and all because you had an urge to get your fists bloody."

"Pull yourself together Ino! We're 22 for god's sake!" Sakura said, but she was not all to blame. "Besides, I needed this. I needed something to take my frustration out on."

"I wish that sounded like what I imaged it to mean," Ino huffed, keeping up with the pinkette's pace as they made it through the back door and onto an empty ally way, "Why can't Miss goody-two-shoes just have sex like us, regular girls? No, she has to be a badass…"

"Hah!" Sakura scoffed, releasing her hold on Ino who stumbled a little thanks to one too many drinks she accepted from testosterone filled strangers, "Dammit Ino, you're such a lightweight. Besides, you've had a taste once! Once! You shouldn't flaunt it, what if you're dad heard?"

"Oh hush! We're adults remember," Ino frowned, sticking her hand out for the backpack Sakura was holding. "You always take the fun out of things. Why can't you play nice one of these days and just choose a damn boy at a bar and let him take you home?"

"Ino!" Sakura scolded, holding the bag pack just out of reach from the blonde. "Are you that drunk that you're being a complete bitch now?"

"I'm always a bitch," Ino said matter-of-factly. "The difference is that I'm bitchy to you because I care."

"Wow. I'm so thankful," Sakura sarcastically replied, finally giving Ino what she wanted. It took her two minutes to change from her skimpy outfit and into yoga gear while Sakura simply pulled a shirt over her exposed mid-drift.

She boxed in nothing more than a sports bra, leggings, and boots. It was easy that way, but Ino preferred packing a change of party clothes.

"You should be," Ino agreed with that mature tone of voice of hers. "I know you're waiting for mister right, but you should try to loosen up a bit. You're always so tense except when you fight. That's always the most relaxed I see you."

"I'm not going to 'loosen up' with just anyone," Sakura said, "and damn right, I'm a badass fighter."

Ino laughed, shaking her head in agreement as they made their way down the ally only to be met with the strict and disapproving voice of Umino Iruka.

"Stay where you are," he shouted at them and Sakura and Ino only looked at each other with fear that they've been caught. Luckily for them, Sakura was physically and mentally light on her feet.

"We passed another alley a few seconds ago, it leads to the main street and it's nighttime," Sakura whispered pulling Ino and making a run for it as she continued explaining her plan. "Go through it, catch a cab. I'll see you at our apartment."

"Wait!" Ino asked, ready to execute Sakura's plan. They were too old to get caught like in the good old days. "What about you?"

"Someone needs to be the diversion," Sakura chuckled, her eyes twinkling as they landed on the side rail that led up to the roof of the buildings. "I'll take to the skies once I lead them far away from you. Now go!"

Ino nodded and made a run for it. It would work out, they would meet at their apartment. They wouldn't get catch acting like little kids with bad decisions again. They couldn't or they'd be doomed to office jobs forever.

How would their parents find out, you ask? Well, to put it simply, Iruka or the chief of the police academy, was a good friend of both their parents.

Parents who, lenient and negligent as they were, were the strictest when it came to punishment and anything that involved their children from possibly getting hurt.

It also didn't help that they were trying to prove that they were responsible and smart enough to take on real missions. Getting hauled into the station by Iruka wouldn't look good for either of them.

Luckily for Ino, her father was less involved as he taught in the interrogation department. He was also a lot more gullible. Years ago, she had managed to convince him that she had gone to Sakura's underground fighting rings it to become a better fighter herself and most definitely not for the leeching, grabby boys who attended.

But Sakura's guardian was in a league of her own.

Tsunade was someone no one dared to mess with or tried to outsmart. Being the leader of the leaders themselves, that lady could smell out lies.

That lady was the reason Sakura was such a horrible and one of the best liars ever. The pinkette always gave up trying to lie to Tsunade, but she had a knack for hiding the truth.

Sakura was like a well-written poetry book. Everyone could clearly read her emotions, but to figure out the 'why' and the meaning was impossible. She could hide it so well that she was better off being categorized as unreadable.


	6. The Race

"You're really letting him come back?" Shizune asked, handing her superior a brand-new sake bottle.

"Seems like it," Tsunade replied looking down at the paperwork in front of her but she was unable to even focus on it.

Shizune bit her lip, but she just couldn't keep her questions to herself as she proceeded to ask, "Do you think she'll remember him?"

"I don't know Shizune," Tsunade sighed, pushing the paper away and resting her head on her hands, her sake bottle uncorked but untouched. "I don't want to break her if she does remember Shizune, but this might actually be a good thing.

"She'll see what being a spy really takes and maybe then she'll change her mind and just work on at the hospital like I urged her to." Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose, "And if she doesn't, well then I know Kakashi will and he'll deserve every minute of that pain for leaving her like the coward he was."

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Shizune chimed in, shaking her head as she helped sort out the paper Tsunade had discarded.

Tsunade took a big gulp then, before saying, "The thing is I just know Kakashi will mess it up somehow. I can feel it in my bones."

"If you're feeling regretful," Shizune toyed with the corner of one of the vanilla folders, "It's not too late to turn him down."

"No." Tsunade shook her head and another swig of her drink, "Despite this bad feeling something is also telling me that they need to work through this before they miss their chance.

"Besides, Sakura is strong. I've trained her myself and I know no matter what she deserves to hear about the events that went down that night."

Shizune hummed, not wanting to stir the pot any longer. She had gotten answers and now it was up to the universe to fulfill their fates.

Quite ironic how Sakura wanted adventure with a side of danger and now she might gain a bit more than she bargained for. The poor girl had no idea what she was about to face.

* * *

Once she was certain that Ino was out of harm's way, Sakura climbed the building's fire escape ladder in a hurry.

Ino would be mad at her, but this was the only way, and she would deal with the blonde later. Ino would've stopped what she was about to do and probably turned her into the police herself.

So, Sakura had to act quick before her best friend caught on.

As she landed on the roof top, Sakura turned her stop watch on and began running amongst the roofs of the city. It was a perfect escape plan, no one ever took the time of day to look up, but she still had to be careful.

She would treat this like a training course. Meaning that she had to think that she had only one minute to escape.

**59-seconds. **

Sakura kept running, red and blue lights still bouncing off light in every direction behind her. She wondered why she had ever stopped playing this game, the thrill of the chase always made her feel alive.

_"Sakura want to play a game?" Tsunade asked, two weeks into living together and the blonde caretaker was still learning how to coax her out of bed that morning. _

_She just blinked at the woman. She had to be crazy, she wasn't ready to play games. She hadn't prepared and she had told the old woman that. _

_"This isn't a game you need to prepare for," Tsunade laughed. "This is purely a game of instinct." _

_That big word had her bulging her big green eyes out of their sockets as she curiously asked, "How do you play?"_

**48-seconds.**

Sakura crouched, watching in silence as the police drove past the building she was on and turned down another intersection.

Curiosity always seemed to get the best of her – just like how it was doing now, driving her to chase through the night.

_"Shishou, can we please play that game?" Sakura wined, waning down her guardian's tolerance. _

_"Oh fine! But last time alright," Tsunade grunted out. _

_"I'll give you one full minute to escape this room without breaking anything," the blonde said, setting her terms and turned the hourglass on her desk with a swift flick of her wrist, "Go!"_

**35-seconds. **

She had jumped a few more buildings until Sakura lowered herself from the rooftop and found herself in a rather shady part of town. It was a street wedged right between the higher, richer district and the lower. She just needed to cross the street undetected.

She looked over the ledge and noticed a few police cars parked around the block.

She could do this. All she had to do was take a leap of faith and never stop running.

_"You're getting faster girl," Tsunade smirked and a wide smile spread across Sakura's face. _

_This was the closest thing to a compliment she could ever evoke from the older woman. Afterall, Tsunade was not one to be easily impressed. _

_"Give me a better challenge next time," Sakura grinned at the mere age of twelve. She had been a spunky little pre-teen. _

**19-seconds. **

Sakura passed by undetected and with the utmost grace she could muster. It would have been very disappointing if she had failed to succeed being discrete.

She thought back to her shishou. The woman had taught her well – maybe a little too well for her to be able to get away with this.

And it was not the only skills she had been taught either. If she let herself, she could be a weapon, but her one weakness would always be that she was too emotional.

She could never bring herself to feel nothing.

_"You need to let go," Tsunade scolded her, "You cannot take losing personally. It's a game after all, Sakura."_

As Sakura hid behind the dumpster, the back door within reach, she bit her bottom lip reminding herself to be patient and wait.

Sakura looked up at the lifeless window and compared it to all the other lit ones. It seemed that he wasn't home yet.

_"How can I not take it personal? I wasn't fast enough," Sakura would cry, "I need to get faster." _

**4-seconds. **

The switch of a light turning on from the window broke Sakura from her thoughts and she couldn't help but grin.

He was home! And on que, the back door was unlocked and swung open signaling that it was time to take out the trash.

It was now or never, and Sakura was too curious for her own good to just turn around and walk away after all this time.

The security worker's back was towards Sakura as he neared the large dumpster. Luckily, Sakura was quick on her feet, catching the door quietly before it locked itself.

She slipped in, heading straight to the side of the building and into the abandoned stair case.

Safely inside, she couldn't help the foxlike grin that spread across her face as her watch beeped. She had made it just in time.

Now here was where the hard part came.

As she exited the hallway filled with doors that lead to various apartments, Sakura quickly scanned the numbers looking for the one she had memorized the day before as she had opened his record file.

One Sasuke Uchiha, living in apartment #2023.

She had been surprised to learn that he was the same age as her as well. Funny enough, she had always thought he'd be older.

But she'd learn more soon enough. That was after all her reason for seeking him out tonight.

She wanted to learn about what he knew of that night, maybe he had seen who had killed her parents. Or he would finally tell her why he had left her all alone after finding her shivering like a fool in the cupboard.

She would finally tell him he was a coward and maybe he'd realize he wasn't up to par to be an agent – but she was. Sakura was more than ready to lay her life on the line for the greater good.

She was not weak like him, and she was most definitely not a coward.


End file.
